Ch.165Frozen Planet (1)

“Ugh, this, this is too cold?”

“Cold” “Cold” “Cold”

As expected, Adhigh Orr and Sky Mother began shivering from the fierce cold. It would be better if they had full stomachs, but currently everyone was starving.

‘It would be difficult to maintain temperature in this spaceship.’

After the corrosive tentacles were released, the spaceship was completely ruined. Not only the engine, but all the metal walls making up the hull were corroded beyond repair. If a storm were to hit in this state, the ship would shatter into pieces.

‘We need to hurry and find food and shelter.’

[Zzzzz zzzzz (Take care of the kids)]

“Leave it to me!”

I entrusted the most intact of them, No. 26, with the others and went outside the spaceship.

A snow-covered icy land greeted me. As I moved my combat arms, the thick snow was swept away, revealing the ice beneath.

Ice as smooth as a mirror without a speck of dust. My pure form, without using the “organic evolution” trait, was reflected on its surface.

I could see six massive horns and an elongated head reminiscent of an alligator or large theropod, with countless monstrous tentacles flowing like a mane beneath.

Below the tentacles swaying in the wind was a body covered with a mixture of hard carapace and synthetic scales, six combat arms, and two smaller arms near the chest.

Finally, though not reflected in the ice, the large, long tail that replaced my lower body was half-buried in snow. Only the pincers at the end of the tail and the spines within them slightly peeked above the snow.

I raced across the snowfield with my enormous body measuring between 27m and 28m. The traces I left behind quickly disappeared thanks to the endless falling snow and hail. Without my auxiliary organs, I would have gotten lost immediately.

‘The mountain range visible in the distance, should I go there? No, it’s too far. Instead…’

I stopped running and looked down at my feet.

Among creatures inhabiting ice planets, some species live beneath the ice sheet. Life exists even under this ice of immeasurable thickness.

‘There’s an empty space under this ice.’

Having confirmed this fact through my auxiliary organs, I raised the pincers at the end of my tail high. In that position, I concentrated as if tensing all my muscles.

The scales and carapace covering my body began to glow red. This was the effect of the “heat emission” trait I had acquired from the Star Union supply ship.

‘Originally a Coldblood’s temperature regulation trait.’

Unlike the original trait that merely warms the body, when an AMorph acquires it, it can convert internal energy into heat and emit strong heat as I was doing now.

The ice was over dozens of meters thick and incredibly hard. With my physical abilities, I could easily dig through it with bare hands, but that would take a lot of time.

‘Though energy is scarce right now…’

Investing energy now is the best option since I need to find shelter and food as quickly as possible.

Steam rose as the ice beneath me melted. The thickest parts of my carapace—the pincers and head armor—glowed red like heated iron.

‘This should be enough.’

I struck the ice with my tail pincers, which had heated to a golden color from the extreme temperature. As the hot pincers collided with the ground, tremendous heat and steam erupted.

With a sizzling sound, the thick ice melted rapidly. Somehow it resembled the sound of pork belly just placed on a hot grill.

‘Tsk. I must be really hungry.’

I licked my lips and pulled my tail out of the ice hole. There was only darkness inside the deep hole.

I dug down using my combat arms and the blunt claws all over my body. Thanks to the heat radiating from my body and the partially melted ice walls, expanding the hole wasn’t difficult.

After digging down hundreds of meters more, the space suddenly widened.

I had finally reached the underground cavity beneath the ice. I hung from the ice ceiling and checked below.

Though nothing was visible due to the absence of light, my auxiliary organs allowed me to clearly sense the structure of this place. The temperature in the underground space was higher than above, and there was soil and ice on the floor of the cavity.

‘There are living creatures too.’

I could hear the sounds of life stirring in the darkness. I moved along the ceiling upside down, using the suction cups on the inside of my fingers.

Not far from my position was a group of creatures. They were emitting unique sound waves while remaining vigilant.

‘Cave ghouls.’

Cave ghouls are creatures that live in underground cavities or very deep caves. They look like a combination of bats and primates, enlarged to about 3m in size.

Since their vision has completely atrophied, they identify objects by emitting special ultrasonic waves like bats. They’ve probably noticed my presence in this cavity by now.

‘They’re extremely wary.’

It’s understandable they’d be frightened with a nearly 30m monster crawling on the ice ceiling above them. They’d probably all flee if I approached just a little closer.

‘But.’

I have a way to catch them now.

The five faces sleeping on my back—the human-faced beast trait.

I mainly use the human-faced beast to acquire information about enemies and deceive them, but this trait is also useful in combat. It can emit powerful sound waves to paralyze enemies.

‘The more developed the enemy’s hearing, the more fatal damage it can inflict.’

It wouldn’t work at all on creatures without ears, but there probably aren’t such creatures in this pitch-black space. I awakened all my human-faced beasts.

The five faces bound to my will all opened their eyes wide at once. Black blood vessels bulged on their pale faces.

Eventually, they opened their mouths wide, and a second, spiral-shaped mouth protruded from within. Powerful sound waves were emitted from that mouth, which had tooth-like protrusions inside.

Since it was an enclosed space, the sound wave attack was stronger than usual. Even the scales on my body trembled from the sound waves, so the effect must have been tremendous.

As I expected, chaos erupted among the cave ghouls below.

“Kaek! Kaeeeek!”

“Kek!”

“Kaeeeek!”

The smell of thick blood filled the air, as if their organs for detecting sound waves had all burst.

It was like losing both eyes and ears simultaneously for a human. The cave ghouls fell into panic and began attacking each other.

After confirming the enemies were in confusion, I jumped down toward the floor. My body, nearly 30m long, flew through the air and landed on top of them.

“Kwak?!”

“Kik!”

Six cave ghouls were instantly killed, crushed under my body. The cave ghouls that weren’t crushed rushed at me. They couldn’t hear, but they must have felt the impact when I hit the ground.

A cave ghoul that climbed onto my back struck my carapace with both hands.

Cave ghouls are strong enough to tear apart medium-grade reinforced suits with their bare hands.

‘That’s why they’re often used as materials for Hulk Mutants.’

An attack that would crush most other creatures instantly. But not even a slight scratch appeared on my carapace.

“Ke, kaek?”

The creature tilted its head, probably expecting blood or flesh but feeling something strange at its fingertips.

I bent my lower body and tail over my back. The pincers at the end of my tail grabbed it.

“Kek!”

When I applied force, its body was helplessly torn in two. Its warm blood and entrails poured onto my back.

After that, everything proceeded smoothly. All ten cave ghouls met their deaths in less than a few minutes.

The scent of blood spread throughout the underground space, but no other creatures appeared.

Judging this place to be safe, I finally relaxed.

The smell of hot blood and fresh raw meat tickled my auxiliary organs through the cool air. Being hungry and smelling delicious meat made my mouth water involuntarily.

‘Should I eat just one before going?’

It wouldn’t matter if I ate before leaving, since no one was chasing me.

Many thoughts crossed my mind, but I deliberately turned away. I returned the way I came, climbing up the wall.

After passing through the long ice passage and coming back up, nothing had changed from before. Endless snow and hail, and sharp winds that could literally cut flesh.

In this unchanged world, I relied on my auxiliary organs to find the direction of the spaceship.

A trace of metallic smell mixed with the knife-like wind. I ran following the scent flowing from the spaceship.

Not long after running, I saw a blunt protrusion of snow. Though not much time had passed, snow had already accumulated enough to hide the spaceship from view.

As I got closer, No. 26’s wavelength flowed from inside the spaceship.

“Big one?”

[Zz zzzzz zzzzz zzzzz zzzzz (Yes. I found food and a safe place)]

“Wow! So fast! Amazing!”

[Zz zzzzz (Follow me)]

Shortly after, there was a sound of metal being crushed from inside the snow pile, and then the snow pile scattered like an explosion. What appeared on the white snow was No. 26, who had increased its size to 10m.

“Ugh, please tell me it’s not far.”

“Cold” “Hungry” “Cold!” “Hungry!”

Looking closely, it was hugging Sky Mother and Adhigh Orr tightly. The two were trembling with only their heads sticking out, buried in No. 26’s soft, slime-like body.

In my experience, No. 26’s body temperature remained constant regardless of the surrounding temperature. So when placed on my head or shoulders, it gave a moderately cool feeling.

‘In a cold place like this, does it feel warm instead?’

By the looks of it, if we delayed any longer, both might be in trouble. I guided them to the hole I had dug underground.

As No. 26 and I were making our way through the snow and wind, Adhigh Orr suddenly sent a warning thought wave.

“Great one!” “Little one!” “Danger!”

[Zuuuu (Adhigh?)]

“I” “Kin” “Detect” “Sky” “Flying” “Tracking”

“Huh? I feel something similar to the little one from over there. Interesting.”

Adhigh Orr trembled as he sent thought waves. Then No. 26 said something similar.

Kin?

I raised my head and looked up at the sky. Beyond the mercilessly falling snow and hail, only dark gray clouds were visible.

I quickly called Sky Mother.

Sky Mother, sensing something was wrong, also turned her head upward. Her amber eyes moved slowly, then reached the vicinity of the mountain range and suddenly expanded.

“It’s a White Gallergorn! It’s flying in this direction!”

[Zzzzz zzzz zzzzz zzzz (Let’s hurry. Everyone get on me)]

Seeing Adhigh Orr trembling, it didn’t seem like it was coming with good intentions. I put No. 26, who was hugging the kids, on top of my body.

After confirming that No. 26 had firmly grasped my body with its tentacles, I ran at full speed.

[Zzzzz (Hold tight)]

“Wooaaa!”

Using my three pairs of combat arms and the blunt claws all over my body, I shot forward like a cannonball.

While running, I asked Sky Mother:

[Zzzz zzzzz zzzz (How close is it?)]

“At that speed, it will pass over us within 5 minutes? No, within 3 minutes.”

A White Gallergorn can see us even while flying high. It doesn’t seem to know we’re here yet because of the distance, but it will soon discover our position if it flies around this area.

‘The traces will disappear quickly thanks to the snow.’

But not the hole. The entrance is so large that it will take a long time for snow to cover it.

‘I need to block it.’

Upon reaching the hole connecting to the underground, I first pushed No. 26 inside.

[Zzzz zzzzz zzzz zzzzz zzzz (Fill your stomachs first when you get down)]

“Aren’t you coming down, big one?”

[Zz zzzzz zzzz zzzz zzzzzzz (I have something to do. I’ll come down soon)]

After reassuring No. 26, I covered the entrance of the hole with my body. Then I extended my corrosive tentacles to pull the surrounding snow and sprinkle it over my body.

Only after my body was completely covered with snow did I retract my corrosive tentacles.

After finishing everything and holding my breath, I heard an alien wind sound from the sky above.

Though very small and faint, it was definitely the sound of wings flapping.

That sound came and went slowly.

‘It’s here.’

The great beast called the dragon of space was circling around me.